History of Rochambeau's Army in the U.S. (1780-1783) 

Period	Event Links	States
1780 July - 1781 May	Arrival and stay in Newport RI	RI
1781 Jan - July	Lafayette vs Cornwallis in VA	VA
1781 June	March from RI via CT to NY	MA,RI,CT
1781 July - Aug 13	NY encampment, sally-in-force against British positions; decision to besiege Cornwallis in VA	NY
1781 Aug 14 - Sep 2	March from NY via NJ to PA	NY,NJ
1781 Sep 2-5	March through PA	PA
1781 Sep 2-7	March through DE The soldiers continued by water, the officers and baggage by land. At the Virginia Capes the French fleet drives off a British fleet, thus denying relief to the British army at Yorktown	DE
1781 Sep 8-24	March/sail through MD and VA to Yorktown	MD,VA
1781 November	Victory and Return North Immediately after the brief siege and magnificent victory at Yorktown the U.S. Continental troops and the two French fleets returned to their pre-convergence locations. The French army remained in VA for the winter.	VA
1782 July-Dec	Return of the French army from VA to Boston MA, after which most of the French troops shipped out from Boston for the Caribbean.	all

Active Map of the W3R (below) As you move the mouse curson across the map below it will change shape when it gets near the white or grey lines. You may then click to go to the page with the history of the W3R for that section of the march (going south). To read the history of the return march in 1782 you must use the table. A Note about "Official" W3R Routes

Legend for the Map Above: WHITE = main army land route, BLACK =state boundaries, GREY = sailing route BLUE = major rivers or French fleet route; YELLOW = British fleet route

Timeline of the W3R When the cursor changes shape on the text-note areas of the timeline you may click to see more detail on that aspect of the campaign.

Related Historical Material March to Victory -- Washington, Rochambeau, and the Yorktown Campaign of 1781 [52-page PDF file], by Dr. Robert Selig, with many illustrations by David R. Wagner. [This is posted on the W3R-US site with the permission of the US Army Center of Military History, <www.history.army.mil/ > which published the pamphlet in April, 2007, as CMH Pub 70-104-1. If you wish to reproduce the PDF file in quantity or if you wish to post the PDF file on the Web contact Beth.Mackenzie@HQDA.Army.mil for permission. "Lafayette, Franklin, and the Coming of Rochambeau's Army", by Prof. Jonathan R. Dull (1980) Yorktown Day speech, October 19, 2004. [France Society SAR], by Jacques de Trentinian, noted the global importance of Yorktown. A strategic overview of the Yorktown campaign [North Carolina Society SAR], by Ray Maxson. For books on the French army and its role in the American Revolution Search the Resource Page for: Chartrand, Chastellux, Kennett, Rice, Selig The Rochambeau Map Collection The Library of Congress has put online the Rochambeau Map Collection -- over a hundred maps (drawn during 1780-83) from the personal collection of Gen. Rochambeau. Maps for the area travelled by the French Expeditionary Force are noted below: (numbers refer to Collection order): --- overview of the whole route (65), 40 maps of the campsites (67), --- MA (14), RI (38-41, 42-44), CT (7), NY (21-33), NJ (18-20), --- PA (37), DE (8), MD (8, 12, 13), VA (50-64). Rutgers University has a cartography site with a detailed sepia map of the route. They grant permission solely to view the map image, not to download or to print it.

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